FDA: Do NOT Feed SimplyThick to Premature Infants
weezie825
member
The CDC just issued a health alert regarding the FDA's recent notice to parents that they should NOT feed premature infants SimplyThick.
Excerp:
Do not feed the thickening product called SimplyThick to infants born before 37 weeks because it may cause a life-threatening condition.
This advice to parents, caregivers, and health care providers from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is based on reports of infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in which tissue in the intestines becomes inflamed and dies.
SimplyThick is a brand of thickening agent?available to consumers and medical centers?to help manage swallowing difficulties. It is sold in packets of individual servings and in 64-ounce dispenser bottles. The product can be purchased from distributors and local pharmacies throughout the United States.
Benson M. Silverman, M.D., director of FDA?s Infant Formula and Medical Foods Staff?himself a neonatologist?explains that the thickening agent is added to breast milk and infants? formula to help the premature babies swallow their food and keep it down, without spitting up. The product is also used in older children and adults with swallowing problems caused by trauma to the throat, he notes.
Source:
https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm256250.htm
Press Release:
https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm256253.htm
